Week 13
www.toolsforeducators.com fantastic place to make one's own materials- the options are endless really...
https://edshelf.com/tool/classdojo I found it cute but no earth-shattering- basically a tool that allows you to give smiley faces and sad faces to your students in real time- well actually better than that - you can specify what they are receiving good credit or bad points for and you can also send the info easily to parents. just smells a but too much like an over-zealous tech user- not something i'd be running to use in the classroom...
www.kidblog.org i found this website so easy-to-use and actually used it to plan a lesson- i would love to use this on a long-term basis in an English class- and maybe one day Ill let you know just how that goes!
this is Queen Elizabeth signing out one last time....
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Week 12...
Friday afternoon and of course I have absolutely nothing better to do than write on my blog ;)
Well I wanted to comment on the two clips that were in this week's module-
One was on mobile learning that has been implemented in a big way in a school in America- I found it absolutely fascinating- and still very torn about the whole issue. I found the idea that this school is preparing these students for life after school in a phenomenal way- such as by learning to work collaboratively while using several gadgets- really astounding.
On the other hand I still had a little voice inside of me nagging, wondering whether this is really the way to go. School is perhaps the only place left where a kid can escape technology for a few hours a day- the only place he can learn to apply himself without the distractions of technology. Should school really become a place where technology also seeps in? Is it for the kid's absolute benefit? Am I just refusing to move on and come to turns with the fact that this kind of set-up is the best preparation we can give our kids?
I'm still torn...what do you think?
Second clip- absolutely huh-flippin-larious. that's all I wanted to say on the matter.
Shabbat Shalom!
Friday afternoon and of course I have absolutely nothing better to do than write on my blog ;)
Well I wanted to comment on the two clips that were in this week's module-
One was on mobile learning that has been implemented in a big way in a school in America- I found it absolutely fascinating- and still very torn about the whole issue. I found the idea that this school is preparing these students for life after school in a phenomenal way- such as by learning to work collaboratively while using several gadgets- really astounding.
On the other hand I still had a little voice inside of me nagging, wondering whether this is really the way to go. School is perhaps the only place left where a kid can escape technology for a few hours a day- the only place he can learn to apply himself without the distractions of technology. Should school really become a place where technology also seeps in? Is it for the kid's absolute benefit? Am I just refusing to move on and come to turns with the fact that this kind of set-up is the best preparation we can give our kids?
I'm still torn...what do you think?
Second clip- absolutely huh-flippin-larious. that's all I wanted to say on the matter.
Shabbat Shalom!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Shavua Tov!
Well I was almost getting used to not upgrading this blog but luckily we have to for good ole week ten...blogging is quite weird because it sometimes feels that I'm writing to amuse myself and then sometimes I even get people responding and I'm like oh yes people can see everything I write here...random comment for the day.
Where were we? Week Ten...Research Tools...
NoodleTools' page on search engines- quite amazing and I didn't know that so many options existed...bookmarked that and will definitely be using that in the future!
I knew about Simple English Wikipedia and Google Scholar but not about Twurdy- great for students and great for teachers too. I randomly checked out "hyperactivity" because isn't that the first random word that jumps to your mind? In retrospect it probably wasn't the wisest choice because you're not going to get incredibly easy articles with such a word but it was good to get a general feel for the tool in any case...
Cheerio!
Well I was almost getting used to not upgrading this blog but luckily we have to for good ole week ten...blogging is quite weird because it sometimes feels that I'm writing to amuse myself and then sometimes I even get people responding and I'm like oh yes people can see everything I write here...random comment for the day.
Where were we? Week Ten...Research Tools...
NoodleTools' page on search engines- quite amazing and I didn't know that so many options existed...bookmarked that and will definitely be using that in the future!
I knew about Simple English Wikipedia and Google Scholar but not about Twurdy- great for students and great for teachers too. I randomly checked out "hyperactivity" because isn't that the first random word that jumps to your mind? In retrospect it probably wasn't the wisest choice because you're not going to get incredibly easy articles with such a word but it was good to get a general feel for the tool in any case...
Cheerio!
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Good Morning!
I didn't find anything on the blogs that I frequent that interested me from the past week or so but I did find a post from this time last year on Lisa Nielsen's blog, titled "Not Letting Teachers "Friend" & "Follow" Kids Online? Think Twice!" http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/not-letting-teachers-friend-follow-kids.html and felt I must comment.
Lisa bascially tells the reader how policies preventing teachers from friending and following current students are wrong for a number of reasons.
I didn't find anything on the blogs that I frequent that interested me from the past week or so but I did find a post from this time last year on Lisa Nielsen's blog, titled "Not Letting Teachers "Friend" & "Follow" Kids Online? Think Twice!" http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/not-letting-teachers-friend-follow-kids.html and felt I must comment.
Lisa bascially tells the reader how policies preventing teachers from friending and following current students are wrong for a number of reasons.
- She claims that in the same way that potential employees are checked out via Facebook, students need to be prepared for this experience and teachers friending them "helps youngsters keep their behavior in check."
- Furthermore, Lisa claims that teachers interacting with students on social media encourages them to learn how to use it constructively.
- She thinks that the policy of forbidding teachers to interact online with students is not ok- why, she asks, are they qualified to work with the students face-to-face for hours on end but not interact with them online?
- Another argument is that there are cases of teachers behaving inappropriately in "real life" which, Lisa claims, is far more traumatic than inappropraite online interaction.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Happy Friday Afternoon to you and brownie points to me for posting earlier than late Saturday night :)
I would like to comment on a post on Steve Wheeler's website "Learning with 'e's" from April 9th http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/the-future-of-reading.html about the future of reading. Wheeler speaks about the beginning of projects whereby people can loan books digitally in England. The English are checking out such projects in smaller pilot schemes at the moment to see if such a project would be worthwhile. Mark Taylor, the head of The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professions" believes that such projects may result in a revolution in the reading behavior of the general public as they will have access to materials that they did not have access to previously.
I'm not sure how I feel about this post. On a personal level I grew up in a family without a television (until I left the house at eighteen when my parents invested in one- was I their source of entertainment beforehand and my leaving the house left an abyss that could not be filled? perhaps ;) and we would make weekly trips to the local library, with each member of the family taking out ten books a week. Yes, really. We would shlep home over seventy books a week and sometimes more depending on how many kids were at home that year. But we were, even back then, quite an anomaly. I believe that nowadays this would be considered even stranger behavior when attention spans are shorter, entertainment is more instant and less and less children are being brought up with the library as a part of their culture.
I do think that their are immeasurable advantages to growing up reading books- I know that my ability to skim material quickly was definitely influenced by my reading large amounts, my vocabulary (before I moved to Israel and found myself for quite a time with weak Hebrew and equally weak English ;) definitely grew on account of the huge amounts of reading I would do, etc, etc. On a separate note, as a bilingual I also believe that children and teenagers learning a second language should be encouraged to read as much as possible in their second language as I see for myself the advantages of such behaviors.
I simply think that such projects as the ones mentioned in the post are not really addressing the root of the problem ( I feel like my social worker hat pops up every time I say that phrase). I am not persuaded that making books available for Kindle-owners is the answer to increasing reading tendencies in the general population. I don't see many teenagers with Kindles- I see far more older people using them. I think there have to be other attempts at encouraging the younger generation- be they monolingual or bilingual- to read. Any suggestions?
I would like to comment on a post on Steve Wheeler's website "Learning with 'e's" from April 9th http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/the-future-of-reading.html about the future of reading. Wheeler speaks about the beginning of projects whereby people can loan books digitally in England. The English are checking out such projects in smaller pilot schemes at the moment to see if such a project would be worthwhile. Mark Taylor, the head of The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professions" believes that such projects may result in a revolution in the reading behavior of the general public as they will have access to materials that they did not have access to previously.
I'm not sure how I feel about this post. On a personal level I grew up in a family without a television (until I left the house at eighteen when my parents invested in one- was I their source of entertainment beforehand and my leaving the house left an abyss that could not be filled? perhaps ;) and we would make weekly trips to the local library, with each member of the family taking out ten books a week. Yes, really. We would shlep home over seventy books a week and sometimes more depending on how many kids were at home that year. But we were, even back then, quite an anomaly. I believe that nowadays this would be considered even stranger behavior when attention spans are shorter, entertainment is more instant and less and less children are being brought up with the library as a part of their culture.
I do think that their are immeasurable advantages to growing up reading books- I know that my ability to skim material quickly was definitely influenced by my reading large amounts, my vocabulary (before I moved to Israel and found myself for quite a time with weak Hebrew and equally weak English ;) definitely grew on account of the huge amounts of reading I would do, etc, etc. On a separate note, as a bilingual I also believe that children and teenagers learning a second language should be encouraged to read as much as possible in their second language as I see for myself the advantages of such behaviors.
I simply think that such projects as the ones mentioned in the post are not really addressing the root of the problem ( I feel like my social worker hat pops up every time I say that phrase). I am not persuaded that making books available for Kindle-owners is the answer to increasing reading tendencies in the general population. I don't see many teenagers with Kindles- I see far more older people using them. I think there have to be other attempts at encouraging the younger generation- be they monolingual or bilingual- to read. Any suggestions?
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Shavua Tov. Gosh this is a familiar situation- late Motzash, getting up in a few hours and cramming h/w that i coulda/shoulda/woulda done days ago...
Well the topic for the week is using technology creatively in order to create listening/speaking exercises. Seeing as the blogs that I follow have not been updated since I visited a few days ago I'm going to blab about the tools we have been happily exposed to this week. whoop.
I just want to put it out there that the lady who pronounced the Letter Sounds in the tab "listening to sounds" made me cringe and i had to turn it off after hearing "A". thank-you for letting me get that off my chest.
i think the TTS software- sounds like a fantastic idea for all students and especially those with learning difficulties who do better hearing instructions/materials/etc.
oh and i came across www.voki.com and although it seemed familiar and therefore made me worry that perhaps we learnt about it last week and i already forgot in which case i'm making a fool of myself ;), i found it to be quite an entertaining option for use in the efl classroom. unfortunately past 9pm my creative juices run dry so i couldn't think of some fantabulous use for this tool but a quick search came up with some options such as using it for creating stories or even for creating online characters for pupils...me thinks this has lots of potential.
well then i'm signing off for now- have a good one folks
Well the topic for the week is using technology creatively in order to create listening/speaking exercises. Seeing as the blogs that I follow have not been updated since I visited a few days ago I'm going to blab about the tools we have been happily exposed to this week. whoop.
I just want to put it out there that the lady who pronounced the Letter Sounds in the tab "listening to sounds" made me cringe and i had to turn it off after hearing "A". thank-you for letting me get that off my chest.
i think the TTS software- sounds like a fantastic idea for all students and especially those with learning difficulties who do better hearing instructions/materials/etc.
oh and i came across www.voki.com and although it seemed familiar and therefore made me worry that perhaps we learnt about it last week and i already forgot in which case i'm making a fool of myself ;), i found it to be quite an entertaining option for use in the efl classroom. unfortunately past 9pm my creative juices run dry so i couldn't think of some fantabulous use for this tool but a quick search came up with some options such as using it for creating stories or even for creating online characters for pupils...me thinks this has lots of potential.
well then i'm signing off for now- have a good one folks
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Hello world.
It's Thursday afternoon and after some incredible procrastination it's time for me to post week four...i know, be quiet we're already in week six. oh, before i forget PLEASE someone tell me how to stop me receiving every single dastardly post posted on the class forum to my email inbox- it makes me nervous, plays on the Jewish guilt that I'm so behind and makes me excited that I have many friends emailing me only to discover that i have hard-working classmates who keep on target much better than i do....whoever tells me how will be my best friend.ever. thanking you in advance.
On March 25th the author of Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom wrote about the Classroom Champions initiative in the US and Canada. The project entails connecting school classrooms with top performing athletes and the pupils and they interact via blogs and live chats several times a month. The overall goal is to inspire and motivate the pupils and allow the athletes to make a real difference in average children's lives in America by sharing with them their personal journey, their hard work and working together with the teacher to work on stuff like letter writing, reading, geography, math, technology, goal setting and leadership. This project appealed to my social-worker side which got very excited by the idea that athletes- the kind of role models that so many kids look up to and idolize- can play active roles in the kids lives and actively give back to the community. This project, in my opinion, is a fantastic, positive way to use technology in the classroom as a way to break down barriers, use real-life role models to help push the class forward and inspire the pupils to dream big. Just fab. Although this is an American project there is no reason why such projects can't be incorporated here too- if I was a bit more in-the-know regarding popular culture I could give examples but you get the gist- big names give back, inspire the younger generation and motivate them to reach for the heavens....ok ok I'm coming back down to earth now....oh and here's the link http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/03/why-everyone-needs-champion.html#disqus_thread
"Learning with 'e's" had a post from March 28th entitled "Technology won't replace teachers, but..." I'll be honest with you- I liked this post because I found the lead-in spot on- "Technology won't replace teachers, but teachers who use technology will probably replace those who don't" and because the author spoke about lecturing in Manchester, my birth town. Yes I have a fantastic talent of focusing on the absolutely irrelevant information in any given situation. Well seriously I think the post could have ended after the lead-in quote- it's quite clear that this statement is both true and powerful and any serious educator needs to get using technology creatively because as the writer put it at the end, "If you were a headteacher interviewing new teachers and there were two candidates of equal standing but one was digitally literate and the other was not...who would you appoint?" 'nuff said. http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/technology-wont-replace-teachers-but.html
Lisa Nielsen at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/flashmobs-social-media-unite-to.html#more shared a great little piece about a school that choreographed a flashmob in a
Brooklyn, New York that started off with the parents and staff surprising their kids in the morning as they lined up for class with a flashmob and ended as one huge dance party for the staff members, parents and kids. This appealed to me because I love ridiculous randomness that makes people feel good and would love to be part of a flashmob myself...oh and of course the "social media fest" that followed the flashmob is the technological side of things that interested me- no, that's a lie- I just liked the flashmob thing to be honest :)
Well, be good and I might even be back soon with Week 5 ;)
It's Thursday afternoon and after some incredible procrastination it's time for me to post week four...i know, be quiet we're already in week six. oh, before i forget PLEASE someone tell me how to stop me receiving every single dastardly post posted on the class forum to my email inbox- it makes me nervous, plays on the Jewish guilt that I'm so behind and makes me excited that I have many friends emailing me only to discover that i have hard-working classmates who keep on target much better than i do....whoever tells me how will be my best friend.ever. thanking you in advance.
On March 25th the author of Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom wrote about the Classroom Champions initiative in the US and Canada. The project entails connecting school classrooms with top performing athletes and the pupils and they interact via blogs and live chats several times a month. The overall goal is to inspire and motivate the pupils and allow the athletes to make a real difference in average children's lives in America by sharing with them their personal journey, their hard work and working together with the teacher to work on stuff like letter writing, reading, geography, math, technology, goal setting and leadership. This project appealed to my social-worker side which got very excited by the idea that athletes- the kind of role models that so many kids look up to and idolize- can play active roles in the kids lives and actively give back to the community. This project, in my opinion, is a fantastic, positive way to use technology in the classroom as a way to break down barriers, use real-life role models to help push the class forward and inspire the pupils to dream big. Just fab. Although this is an American project there is no reason why such projects can't be incorporated here too- if I was a bit more in-the-know regarding popular culture I could give examples but you get the gist- big names give back, inspire the younger generation and motivate them to reach for the heavens....ok ok I'm coming back down to earth now....oh and here's the link http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/03/why-everyone-needs-champion.html#disqus_thread
"Learning with 'e's" had a post from March 28th entitled "Technology won't replace teachers, but..." I'll be honest with you- I liked this post because I found the lead-in spot on- "Technology won't replace teachers, but teachers who use technology will probably replace those who don't" and because the author spoke about lecturing in Manchester, my birth town. Yes I have a fantastic talent of focusing on the absolutely irrelevant information in any given situation. Well seriously I think the post could have ended after the lead-in quote- it's quite clear that this statement is both true and powerful and any serious educator needs to get using technology creatively because as the writer put it at the end, "If you were a headteacher interviewing new teachers and there were two candidates of equal standing but one was digitally literate and the other was not...who would you appoint?" 'nuff said. http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/technology-wont-replace-teachers-but.html
Lisa Nielsen at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/flashmobs-social-media-unite-to.html#more shared a great little piece about a school that choreographed a flashmob in a
Brooklyn, New York that started off with the parents and staff surprising their kids in the morning as they lined up for class with a flashmob and ended as one huge dance party for the staff members, parents and kids. This appealed to me because I love ridiculous randomness that makes people feel good and would love to be part of a flashmob myself...oh and of course the "social media fest" that followed the flashmob is the technological side of things that interested me- no, that's a lie- I just liked the flashmob thing to be honest :)
Well, be good and I might even be back soon with Week 5 ;)
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Well it's a new week and time for new updates on the blogs I'm following...
"Blogging about the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom" (that name is just way too long) has a post from Jan 28 named "So...You Wanna Be A Good Digital Citizen" http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/01/soyou-wanna-be-good-digital-citizen.html and once again, the post didn't teach me something new technologically but did speak about the importance of educating students about their digital footprint. I heartily agreed with this post and think that if we, as educators, want to incorporate technology in our techniques and to speakto our students with and via technology then we also need to make sure that they know of the potentai dangers ofusing these amazing tools. I'm sure that many of our tech-savvy students are less aware of the trails they leave in the digital world and perhaps it is important that we, as the people that are there to help them learn and progress, while understanding that this can be done through technology as this is the language of our students today, need to teach our students the importance of using technolgoy responsibly...
"Learning with "e"s" had a blog post from March 9th named "Who's afraid of the big bad MOOC" that deals with the interesting subject of Massive Open Online Courses. Unfortunately the free versions quickly made way for the money-making versions. The post discusses how likely it is that these courses pose a real threat for institutions such as universities. The bottom line is that it is highly unlikely that such courses will completely take over traditional ways of learning but in all likelihood they will strongly affect what and how material is taught. MOOC will force professors to take a look at their pedagogical practices if they have to compete with online courses...interesting point about how academic titles are less what interests the world as opposed to competency...a fascinating look at how technology is changing the face of everything...
On March 12th the Innovative Educator wrote a post entitled "Say goodbye to bake sales forever" which basically laid down how students in a certain school raised money for charity using a fundraising page, raising money with very little effort as opposed to traditional ways of raising money such as bake sales whereby a lot of time is invested in order to make not so much money. A great example of how kids can use technological tools creatively...I did always like a good bake sale though so not sure how I feel about this
Fab- have a wonderful week y'all!
"Blogging about the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom" (that name is just way too long) has a post from Jan 28 named "So...You Wanna Be A Good Digital Citizen" http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/01/soyou-wanna-be-good-digital-citizen.html and once again, the post didn't teach me something new technologically but did speak about the importance of educating students about their digital footprint. I heartily agreed with this post and think that if we, as educators, want to incorporate technology in our techniques and to speakto our students with and via technology then we also need to make sure that they know of the potentai dangers ofusing these amazing tools. I'm sure that many of our tech-savvy students are less aware of the trails they leave in the digital world and perhaps it is important that we, as the people that are there to help them learn and progress, while understanding that this can be done through technology as this is the language of our students today, need to teach our students the importance of using technolgoy responsibly...
"Learning with "e"s" had a blog post from March 9th named "Who's afraid of the big bad MOOC" that deals with the interesting subject of Massive Open Online Courses. Unfortunately the free versions quickly made way for the money-making versions. The post discusses how likely it is that these courses pose a real threat for institutions such as universities. The bottom line is that it is highly unlikely that such courses will completely take over traditional ways of learning but in all likelihood they will strongly affect what and how material is taught. MOOC will force professors to take a look at their pedagogical practices if they have to compete with online courses...interesting point about how academic titles are less what interests the world as opposed to competency...a fascinating look at how technology is changing the face of everything...
On March 12th the Innovative Educator wrote a post entitled "Say goodbye to bake sales forever" which basically laid down how students in a certain school raised money for charity using a fundraising page, raising money with very little effort as opposed to traditional ways of raising money such as bake sales whereby a lot of time is invested in order to make not so much money. A great example of how kids can use technological tools creatively...I did always like a good bake sale though so not sure how I feel about this
Fab- have a wonderful week y'all!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Shavua Tov!
Well, with ten hours 'til the deadline for this assignment I thought that there's no time like the present...oh online courses and procrastination...
I chose to focus on the three blogs
Well, with ten hours 'til the deadline for this assignment I thought that there's no time like the present...oh online courses and procrastination...
I chose to focus on the three blogs
- The Innovative Educator
- Learning with "e"s
- The Web 0.2 Connected Classroom
Why? Erm because they're pretty. Seriously. Perhaps not the best way to choose which websites to glean information from but a blog has to be easy on the eye in order for me to contemplate reading it...
And what have I learnt this week (tonight) from these blogs?
The Innovative Educator -> I actually read a short blog about how students use cell phones for learning and how wonderful that is (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/finally-research-based-proof-that.html).
Apart from the obvious flaws in the conditions in which the research was carried out that readers brought up in the comments, such as the fact that the results are based on an online survey and the survey was carried out by a mobile phone carrier (!), I did not find the results as heartening as the author of the blog. She claims that such findings show that educators have reason to rejoice- after all students are using their mobile phones to help them do their homework and not just for entertainment purposes.
I think that many times students will use the internet as a short cut- to gain superficial information on a subject- enough to get by on without really understanding the subject matter in depth. I think this is one of the drawbacks of the internet and its wide-spread use.
Additionally, having students say that it "helps" them complete maths homework just makes me think that they used their computer to do things that they can't be bothered doing in their heads. This, in my eyes is not the meaning of using technology positively in order to educate. This is the way to create students who are lazy, rely on the internet for...everything and aren't able to perform simple mathematical problems by themselves.
On the other hand the post http://steve-wheeler.bloghttp://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/02/the-administrator-pr-machine.html#disqus_threadspot.co.il/2013/03/gold-mines.html on "Learning with "e"s from March 4th seemed to come to prove to me that internet and technology can be used in fantastic ways and may not just create passive students. In fact, the blogger spoke about fascinating social media projects that educators take advantage of, allowing their students to do things such as blog online sharing creative writing pieces (see the blog 100 Word Challenge) or their personal stories (The Quadblogging Project). These fabulous sites are great examples of how educators can use social media to their advantage to create thinking, creative, enthusiastic learners.
Lastly, I checked out the "Blogging about the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom" and quite liked the post named "The Administrator PR Machine (http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/02/the-administrator-pr-machine.html#disqus_thread) from Feb 6th. Although the blog did not teach me something mind-blowing about technology, I did like the idea of the author that technology can and should be used for PR. Staff members will often see special moments that parents and others in the outside world are not privy to and capturing those moments and sharing them with the outside world I'd imagine does great things for a school. Obviously one has to think about ethically what one can and cannot share and issues of the privacy of pupils, but on the whole I think that the author has a point- in a place of learning there are many, many special moments that can be shared in order to show those outside what goes on in your school. Oh, and I finally checked what Instagram is. Is it just me or as many of these devices kind of...similar? Or maybe I just don't understand the difference between them all yet....
Either way, I'm done for today...have a great week!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
C.A.L.L Course takes off...
Before reading about the course I was interested in what it would offer me. Now that I've read more about the course and have more of an idea about what we'll be learning I'm actually excited to learn more.
I think the clip on 21st Century learners summed up the situation perfectly- the kids today (the same kids that we're meant to be teaching) are moving forward constantly. They were born in to a reality where technological advances are astounding and are continuing to develop non-stop. The reality is that many of their teachers either can't keep up with the technological changes or most likely quite often don't try. If we, as teachers in 2013, don't immerse ourselves in the technology that our pupils are so fluent in we are in danger of losing them and of failing to connect with them.
I do think that one has to be careful not to rob students of their ability to think creatively and sometimes technology can do so when used incorrectly but I think there are so many ways that teachers can incorporate technology into the classroom that can encourage students to create, think out-of-the-box and really look forward to their learning experiences.
I do hope that this course provides me with tools that will help me engage the students I will be teaching. I want to be a teacher that attempts to connect with her students and I think this course can provide me with the tools that can help me do just that.
I think the clip on 21st Century learners summed up the situation perfectly- the kids today (the same kids that we're meant to be teaching) are moving forward constantly. They were born in to a reality where technological advances are astounding and are continuing to develop non-stop. The reality is that many of their teachers either can't keep up with the technological changes or most likely quite often don't try. If we, as teachers in 2013, don't immerse ourselves in the technology that our pupils are so fluent in we are in danger of losing them and of failing to connect with them.
I do think that one has to be careful not to rob students of their ability to think creatively and sometimes technology can do so when used incorrectly but I think there are so many ways that teachers can incorporate technology into the classroom that can encourage students to create, think out-of-the-box and really look forward to their learning experiences.
I do hope that this course provides me with tools that will help me engage the students I will be teaching. I want to be a teacher that attempts to connect with her students and I think this course can provide me with the tools that can help me do just that.
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